Marty Morrissey is the special guest on RTÉ One's Nationwide on Wednesday, bringing the show's Mary Kennedy on a tour of his Co Clare home place and discussing marriage, the GAA and his personal charisma en route.
RTÉ's Gaelic Games Correspondent and Clare Person of the Year 2015 begins the tour in Quilty, with stop-offs at Mullagh, Coore, the Parish of Kilmurry Ibrickane and St Joseph's Secondary School Spanish Point, where he taught and coached.
"The GAA plays a pivotal role in Irish society," he says."Every club and parish has that sense of pride and sense of belonging and I would imagine Ireland would be a very dull place without the GAA. It is community based, it is family."
At the Star of the Sea Church in Quilty, Marty explains that they are booked out all year 'round for weddings. When asked if this is where he will tie the knot himself, he replies that he has a good connection with the parish priest who may be able to fit him into the schedule when the time comes.
Warming to theme of romance, Mary Kennedy also asks him about his popularity with women. Marty cites his beautiful face and supreme body shape and adds "people seem to enjoy me having the craic".
Meeting Beatrice O'Riordan at Quilty Post Office
During the show, there's also a rendezvous with Marty's mother Peggy. She discusses her only child's birth in Mallow in Co Cork and the years the family spent in New York before coming back to Ireland and settling in Co Clare when Marty was a boy.
The show ends with a visit to the Quilty Tavern, the pub which was owned by Marty's late father Martin and was also the family home.
Nationwide is on RTÉ One at 7pm.
